Template talk:Non-free fair use

ellipsis?
see Category talk: fair use in... images Thylacinus cynocephalus (talk) 00:59, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

No free equivalent
Can someone please explain how "Where no free equivalent is available or could be created that would adequately give the same information" is rationale for going ahead and using copyrighted material? Halsteadk (talk) 21:29, 18 April 2008 (UTC)


 * In this way (emphasis mine):


 * . . . the fair use of a copyrighted work . . . for purposes such as . . . teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include: 1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes . ..


 * Sure, someone printing or pressing CDs/DVDs of Wikipedia and selling them for profit might have to look more carefully into this whole "purpose" thing for each and every piece of fair use items available if he wants to include any of them at all. If he doesn't, he can simply drop them all and run a script to rearrange the text before starting. Wikipedia itself, however, is on pretty solid ground here. -- alexgieg (talk) 16:35, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

mk interwiki
Please add mk:Шаблон:Фер употреба во interwiki. Thanks. -- i Nk u b u ss e ? 02:58, 16 May 2008 (UTC)
 * Done. --- RockMFR 04:14, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

Where to go to report misuse
It would be helpful if this template mentions where you are meant to report images for deletion if they are not fair use.--Commander Keane (talk) 07:25, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

Can the template be modified to accept more than six parameters?
I have a situation where an image, ThomasShippAbramSmith.jpg, depicting the lynching of Thomas Shipp, Abram Smith, and James Cameron (founder of America's Black Holocaust Museum in Marion, Indiana in 1930. Fair use rationales are provided for use of this image in the five articles listed above, as well as in the articles for Strange Fruit (the poem & Billie Holiday song based on this photograph) and Lawrence Beitler (the photographer).  Can the template be edited to allow for more than six articles to be listed?  Thanks in advance.  --SSBohio 19:52, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

Proposed change to the text parameter:

Also, the instructions could clarify that parameter 2 will always be the last parameter listed in the template output. --SSBohio 20:11, 18 December 2008 (UTC)
 * ✅ - added extra parameters. As far as updating the instructions, the doc page is not protected, so if you want to update it, feel free. Just go to Template:Non-free fair use in/doc. J.delanoy gabs adds  18:44, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

Adding inter-wiki link
Hi I'm from zh.wikipedia and wish to add the inter-wiki link zh:模板:Fair use in in this template but fail to do it due to protection. Maybe some admins add the above link in this template, thanks!--Lokionly (talk) 15:40, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

Edit request from FleetCommand, 27 June 2010
Hi.

I'd like to suggest the copyright logo in this template to be replaced with this new version:



To do so, simply replace this portion of the code: | image     =

With: | image     =

Fleet Command (talk) 06:18, 27 June 2010 (UTC)
 * No objections so ✅ &mdash; Martin (MSGJ · talk) 21:16, 27 June 2010 (UTC)

Template discussion
I posted a question about this template here: Non-Free use rationale guideline. Thanks. Soundvisions1 (talk) 23:30, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Edit request
Hi. This template is commonly used not only when we know that an image is copyrighted, but also when we're unsure whether it's copyrighted. The template currently says: "This work is copyrighted and unlicensed." Please insert a parenthetical for accuracy: "This work is copyrighted (or assumed to be copyrighted) and unlicensed". For those images we're unsure about, it's in Wikipedia's interest to not make unnecessary admissions of copyright, so this edit request is not just about being 100% accurate---it's also about protecting Wikipedia. Thanks.Anythingyouwant (talk) 10:22, 5 December 2010 (UTC)
 * &mdash; Martin (MSGJ · talk) 12:29, 6 December 2010 (UTC)
 * Thanks Martin.Anythingyouwant (talk) 18:35, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Why does this template still accept an article parameter?
Why does this template still accept an article parameter? It's not necessary anymore due to the more recent requirement that all non-free content contain a separate, detailed fair use rationale for each usage that includes a link to the article it applies to. Considering that an image can, in some cases, have multiple fair use rationales, each containing the required links, the template's containing a link to an article is kind of unnecessary.

Thus it seems wise to simply drop the part that says, "in the article '[article title]'" from the template and let the fair use rationales do the work of explaining the individual usages alone. SchuminWeb (Talk) 18:21, 12 November 2011 (UTC)


 * Seeing no objections after a week, I'm going to boldly carry this out. SchuminWeb (Talk) 16:27, 20 November 2011 (UTC)

Template only half-correct in some cases (and mostly redundant)
The documentation for this template reads: "Place this template in image description pages of non-free images that do not fall into one of the blanket acceptable non-free content categories listed at Non-free content or Non-free content." This has led, however, to : although it is true that photographs of rooms do not fall into one of the blanket categories, that photograph is licenced, and this template essentially duplicates the existing one denoting Parliamentary copyright. Perhaps the documentation ought to be refined to exclude images which have a proper licence? Waltham, The Duke of 10:36, 30 September 2012 (UTC)


 * I believe that I have addressed your concern in the license tag box, adding a link to Category:Wikipedia non-free file copyright tags in there and mentioning more specific licensing tags. Let me know what you think!  SchuminWeb (Talk) 21:32, 30 October 2012 (UTC)


 * I believe you have, and I thank you very much for it. A tweak: "and it is not covered" would probably be better than "and is not covered", given the phrase's distance from "It does not fall" in the sentence. Waltham, The Duke of 18:41, 8 November 2012 (UTC)


 * Fixed. SchuminWeb (Talk) 03:38, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

Protected edit request on 17 December 2013
change to this Template:Non-free fair use/sandbox

179.210.86.1 (talk) 04:20, 17 December 2013 (UTC)
 * I couldn't immediately see what the desired change was, so I moved your code from above to the template's sandbox (see WP:TESTCASES), so that [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:ComparePages&page1=Template:Non-free_fair_use&page2=Template:Non-free_fair_use/sandbox a comparison] may be made easily. The change is just to one line, the first line of the text parameter; but it seems that a lot of significant text would be removed. Therefore, Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please establish a consensus for this alteration before using the template. -- Red rose64 (talk) 12:20, 17 December 2013 (UTC)

Protected edit request on 8 June 2014: Section link
Hi. This a formatting edit request. I'd like to request the use of section on two of the links; this template inserts the official section sign instead of the raw hash sign. To that end, the following code: ""

Should be changed into: ""

The result is: "This work is copyrighted (or assumed to be copyrighted) and unlicensed. It does not fall into one of the blanket acceptable non-free content categories listed at or and it is not covered by a more specific non-free content license listed at Category:Wikipedia non-free file copyright tags."

Best regards, Codename Lisa (talk) 23:36, 8 June 2014 (UTC)
 * Yes check.svg Done — Mr. Stradivarius  ♪ talk ♪ 08:52, 9 June 2014 (UTC)

Template-protected edit request on 29 January 2020
This template can be switched to use Uploader information if a change in the order of the bulleted list; I've drafted a new version of the template at Template:Non-free fair use/sandbox. Yes, I know I can edit this template myself, but I'd like at least one other person agreeing. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk) 10:52, 29 January 2020 (UTC)
 * Yes check.svg Done —&thinsp;JJMC89&thinsp; (T·C) 04:04, 30 January 2020 (UTC)

Template-protected edit request on 3 September 2020
Please fix this section link - Fair use no longer has a "Fair use under United States law" section since late 2015. ネイ (talk) 16:10, 3 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Before:
 * After:
 * Yes check.svg Done Nardog (talk) 16:19, 3 September 2020 (UTC)
 * I see that templates with similar phrases vary in terms of wikilink practice. Perhaps we should consolidate towards simply  since section links are unstable by nature. Nardog (talk) 16:25, 3 September 2020 (UTC)

Template-protected edit request on 13 December 2023
Please replace Category:Fair use images with Category:Wikipedia non-free images per Categories for discussion/Log/2023 December 4. Thanks! House Blaster talk 15:28, 13 December 2023 (UTC)


 * .  P.I. Ellsworth &thinsp;, ed.  put'er there 20:07, 13 December 2023 (UTC)